The Future of Out of Home in a Self-Driving World: What Happens When No One Is Looking at the Road?

What Happens When No One Is Looking at the Road?
The Future of OOH in a Self-Driving World

Part 1 —The Good

By Brent Baer, Publisher OOH Today and OOH Owner, baerboards, llc

This post’s intention, like many op-eds I pen, is to compel the OOH Industry to think, discuss, and take action on the issues facing us. The Self-Driving/Automated Vehicle is a threat to our business like none other we have faced since the perceived demise of OOH following the passage of the Highway Beautification Act of 1965. Yet, we survived. Yes, I am aware that my statement is dramatic in tone, but I genuinely believe Automated Vehicles (AV) are a real threat. Let’s forward our concerns in the following three-part series on The Future of OOH in a Self-Driving World —the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. (If you haven’t seen it, kids, you owe it to yourself)

Please let me make a few personal points you should know, as my writing assistant, Allison Iverson, and I looked over and built this narrative.

1. I have been in the OOH business since 1980.
2. I LOVE billboards!
3. I own billboards. Granted, I do not own many, and my revenues pale in comparison to all of you owners reading this; nevertheless, I value the few I have, and they are as vital to me as the thousands owned by Lamar or any of the dozens of you possessing hundreds.
4. I bleed potato paste and vinyl ink.
5. I am friends with a handful of diehard OOH veterans who enjoy and swear by their self-driving Teslas. They see the potential demise of OOH brought on as a consequence of Self-Driving cars as well.
6. I will give up my right and love of driving when the government pry’s my steering wheel from my cold, hard hands, one finger at a time.

…sleep, or fool around (yes, I said it) while the self-driving car drives them to their destination?

So what are we going to do?

Here’s the deal, readers. Automated vehicles are coming. For those who poo-poo that statement by responding, “it’s years away”, you are essentially agreeing AV is coming, yet consciously choosing to ignore the fact that Automated Vehicles will adversely impact billboards. AVs are coming. Like ‘Winter’ from the HBO series Game of Thrones, the White Walkers (Winter) are coming, and we need to be prepared.

So if it’s 10 years, 15 years, or 30 years away, they are coming, and when they are here, and it may be gradual, AVs WILL be here, and as an Industry, we must be prepared.

I am so tired of OOH leaders ignoring that fact. The time is NOW to recognize that AVs will arrive and to act today with strategic planning to address the potential threats and opportunities.

Over the last 7 years, I have warned about AVs and I spoken to the highest leadership levels in the billboard Industry about them.  In those conversations, the answers have shared a common thread:

1. “We know it’s coming, and we don’t have an answer.”
2. “We do not want to panic the Industry, particularly the advertising/brands, about our future.”
3. “We do not want to panic the investors or stock market regarding the future value of OOH.”
4. “If you share these statements with anyone, I will deny any conversation and blacklist you from future discussions of anything OOH related.”

The challenge requires an individual with Andy Sriubas or Ari Buchalter‘s IQ to jump into the effort and help us overcome AV threats.

The following 15 years will reshape out-of-home advertising more dramatically than any period since the invention of large-format printing or the digital billboard. Roadside advertising is in peril with the advent of AVs. As autonomous vehicles transition from pilot programs to mainstream transportation — driven by companies like @Waymo, @Cruise, and @Zoox expanding faster than expected — the critical question every OOH executive must ask is: what happens to billboard attention when no one is driving?

The early intuition is that passengers in self-driving vehicles will bury their faces in their phones, ignoring the world around them. But the truth is more complicated — and in many ways, potentially far more exciting for the OOH sector. In a future where cars drive themselves, the physical world becomes a new media canvas, and the vehicle becomes a new screen.

Every window will become a screen for information and entertainment. Ask yourselves why Apple obtained a Patent for an Augmented Reality Windshield? If you think it is only because the current screens, as we imagine them, aren’t big enough, you are ignoring the intelligence and forward thinking of Apple. I believe Apple sees the future in automobile screens, and it’s called entertainment, information, and fundamentally, ad dollars. Have you ever watched Apple+ on your home screen?

For those of you who say, ‘I will always look at the roadside while driving,’ you are ignoring the generation growing up today, buried in their screens. You are ignoring the younger generation, who are not rushing to the DMVs to obtain their driver’s licenses. As screens are taking over the lives of youth, so is the excitement of driving diminishing.

So, yes, YOU may never stop looking at the roadside while traveling to Grandma’s house this Thanksgiving, but take a look in the back seat to see what junior is looking at. It’s not the scenery. It’s the screen. The generations following us could give a rat’s behind what is on the road or driving itself.

In the comments that follow, we’ll present a balanced look at the future.

As for me personally, it looks bleak. I ask why anyone would look at the ‘scenery’ when they could read a book, watch a movie, text, work, play a digital game, sleep, or fool around (yes, I said it) while the self-driving car drives them to their destination?

I don’t like my answer. What’s yours? Be a real leader in OOH and step up with solutions. That is what our comments tab below is for. Please share your thoughts.

Here’s an optimistic view on what OOH could look like in 2040.

The Good —Part 1

1. Autonomous Vehicles Will Increase, Not Decrease, Time Outside the Home

Self-driving cars won’t just replace personal driving — they’ll expand mobility. In cities like Phoenix and San Francisco, Waymo’s per-mile usage is already accelerating faster than early adoption forecasts predicted. As fleets grow, people will take more trips because mobility becomes cheaper, safer, and more accessible for seniors, people with disabilities, and non-drivers.

More trips = more impressions.

OOH has consistently grown with mobility trends. When highways expanded after WWII, billboards exploded. When ridesharing surged in the 2010s, place-based video grew. Autonomous fleets represent the next wave of mobility expansion — and OOH will follow.

2. Attention Isn’t Lost — It’s Redistributed

Will passengers look at their phones? Absolutely. But attention doesn’t vanish — it shifts.

Phone Time Doesn’t Kill OOH

Advertisers feared smartphones would destroy billboards. Instead, OOH has outgrown every traditional media channel over the last decade. Why? Because:

• People still look out the window
• OOH triggers mobile search
• Digital screens create motion and contrast
• Phones fight boredom; billboards break boredom

When no one needs to drive, passengers have even more mental bandwidth. They will still glance outside — especially when the environment is dynamic, vivid, and surprising.

3. Billboards Won’t Be Obsolete — They’ll Become Intelligent

In 15 years, static billboards will still exist, but digital will dominate. And those digital screens will be networked, sensor-driven, and connected to in-vehicle systems in three significant ways:

1. Real-Time Vehicle-to-Screen Communication

Autonomous vehicles will broadcast non-personal, privacy-hardened data packets such as:

• Vehicle speed
• Approximate occupancy
• Generalized audience profile categories
• Time, weather, route direction

Screens will use that data to adjust:

• Creative triggers
• Dayparting logic
• Contextual messages
• Audience segmentation

A billboard will “know” that a wave of vehicles carrying commuters, families, or tourists is approaching — and will tailor ads accordingly.

1. In-Car Screens Will Sync With OOH Screens

The same way QR codes bridge OOH to mobile, autonomous vehicles will create a seamless media loop:

1. You pass a billboard for a restaurant
2. The car’s dashboard suggests it
3. You tap to browse the menu
4. The car reroutes if you choose

Billboards won’t disappear; they’ll initiate the digital engagement inside the vehicle.

1. OOH Will Become a Trigger Layer for Mobile Commerce

In 2040, passing a billboard won’t just show an ad — it will:

• Trigger an in-car offer
• Load a relevant playlist or product carousel
• Sync with AR overlays
• Offer instant booking for events, restaurants, and travel

Outdoor becomes the top-of-funnel awareness AND the mid-funnel conversion mechanism.

4. Windows Will Become Screens — And That’s Good for OOH

As autonomous fleets grow, expect major automakers to experiment with:

• Transparent OLED windows
• AR overlays
• Immersive ambient experiences
• Computer vision mapping the outside world

Rather than replacing billboards, this tech enhances OOH by making the surrounding environment more interactive. For example:

A passenger sees a billboard for a movie.
The window displays the trailer.
The phone loads nearby showtimes.

Instead of OOH vs. mobile, the future is OOH + mobile + in-car displays working as one ecosystem.

5. OOH Demand Will Shift Into Three New Zones
6. High-Autonomy Corridors

Areas with dedicated lanes for autonomous fleets — think Phoenix’s Waymo zones on steroids — will have the highest-value OOH screens in the U.S. by 2040.

1. Pick-Up/Drop-Off Ecosystems

Autonomous mobility hubs will become the new Times Square–style digital plazas, with:

• Gigantic LED clusters
• Retail kiosks
• Immersive brand takeovers
• Place-based networks rivaling airports

1. Suburban Expansion

When driving becomes frictionless, suburbs will sprawl again—new mobility corridors = new billboard corridors.

6. Creative Will Get Smarter, Faster, and More Personalized

Expect the rise of:

• Adaptive creative that changes every few seconds
• Weather-responsive messaging
• Vehicle-specific targeting (but privacy-safe)
• Dynamic storytelling across a sequence of boards
• Contextual triggers based on in-car behavior

OOH creative will be more like programmatic video than traditional static display.

7. The Real Threat Isn’t Autonomous Cars — It’s Irrelevance

Billboards will not die.
But dumb billboards might.

OOH owners who fail to invest in digital infrastructure, audience analytics, and dynamic content delivery will get left behind. Meanwhile, networks that embrace connectivity will thrive in an autonomous future.

Conclusion: OOH in 2040 Will Be More Powerful Than Today — If the Industry Evolves

Autonomous vehicles won’t reduce billboard visibility.
They’ll make outdoor media more intelligent, more contextual, and more measurable.

The real future of OOH isn’t about whether people look outside; it’s about how the outside world becomes part of a larger digital journey that begins the moment someone enters a self-driving car.

In 15 years, OOH won’t fight the phone.
It will activate the phone — and the car — and the environment — in ways we are only beginning to imagine. We must start planning today!

Check back on OOH Today tomorrow, for Part Two of our Three Part series ‘The Bad, and the Ugly‘, The Future of OOH in a Self-Driving World —the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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